Sunday, August 15, 2010

Illogic of the border security bill

The illogic of the new border security measure goes in several different directions.  Here is one more.  We want immigrants to stand in line and come to the country legally.  Yet to increase border security we will now make it harder for you to get in that line in the first place.


The cost of the legislation is offset by a hefty increase in fees paid primarily by technology companies that hire highly skilled foreign workers under the H1B visa program.
Those firms with more than 50 workers and with more than 50% of those employees from abroad would see the current $320 fee per visa application jump to $2,000. Backers of the fee increase argued that it would help create more U.S. jobs in competitive sectors like technology.


Good--we don't want all those annoying Ph.D.s coming to our country anyway.

4 comments:

Defensores de Democracia 11:46 AM  

Excellent Posts about Immigration Mr Weeks. Thanks a lot.

I am a very Super Liberal Heart, and that is nothing about Latinos, Anglos or Race.

I think that Total Amnesty or Free Amnesty are not good ideas. I do not approve open borders, or keeping delinquents, criminals, bums, drug addicts, lazy people, beggars, etc ... in the USA, if they can be deported.

We are accused of Third Worldization of the USA, of wanting to change English for Spanish, and changing hot dogs for tortillas.

Next Jan Brewer and her legislature are going to forbid tortillas, tacos and burritos.

All that Fear and Paranoia is very childish and reflects a lot of personal insecurity, like being a loser in life, a failed life.

There is a grave economic situation in America, but that does not justify becoming evil doers sending one million buses to Mexico.

Racists always forget many economic reasons to have Mexican or Latino Labor. And when they consider the Economics of Immigration it is a lot of Foolish Lies taken from Hate Sites.

Thanks again for keeping us informed. You site has information not available anywhere else

Vicente Duque

Boli-Nica 3:28 PM  


The cost of the legislation is offset by a hefty increase in fees paid primarily by technology companies that hire highly skilled foreign workers under the H1B visa program.Those firms with more than 50 workers and with more than 50% of those employees from abroad would see the current $320 fee per visa application jump to $2,000. Backers of the fee increase argued that it would help create more U.S. jobs in competitive sectors like technology.


I don't think that is a bad deal. It basically makes large companies pay larger tabs for processing H1-B visas. As it stands now, companies pay thousands of dollars in lawyer fees per employee, outside of the $320.00 buck fee which goes to ICE. A hospital or a tech company could find itself paying 10,000 total per employee versus 8,000 total under the old system to use an example. Considering the fact that this is for a skilled employee like a nurse or a software engineer who easily might be paid 80,000 a year, this is not that big of a change.

What is good is that they have carved out an exception for small business with less than 50 employees, and for larger ones which have more than 50% U.S. workers

Defensores de Democracia 11:06 AM  

The average Florida Hispanic student score on NAEP reading tests (conducted in English mind you) is now higher than or ties the overall average scores of all students in 31 different states — including predominantly Anglo states such as Iowa, Minnesota and Washington

Jeff Bush a Hero ?? - Perhaps Yes !


Alburquerque Journal
Success for New Mexico Minority Students Lies With Adults

By Matthew Ladner, Rio Grande Foundation
Matthew Ladner is an adjunct fellow with New Mexico's Rio Grande Foundation

http://www.abqjournal.com/opinion/guest_columns/18213327opinion07-18-10.htm



Some excerpts :

Today, more than 820 Florida private schools educate almost 19,000 children with disabilities through the McKay program. A similar number of low-income children are benefiting from Step Up for Students. Florida also has a vigorous and growing charter school program, with more than 375 charter schools educating more than 100,000 students.

So what does Florida have to show for this tough mixture of high-stakes testing and parental choice? The best source of data to answer this question comes from the National Assessment of Education Progress. The NAEP tests representative samples of students in every state on a variety of subjects and is the nation's most reliable and respected source of K-12 testing data.

Researchers focus heavily on fourth-grade reading scores as a bellwether for future academic performance. Children who do not learn to read in the early grades almost never recover academically.

In 1998, a stunning 47 percent of Florida fourth-graders scored "below basic" on the NAEP reading test, meaning they were functionally illiterate. By 2009, 73 percent of Florida's fourth-graders scored basic or above — a remarkable improvement in a short period.

Best of all, improvements among Hispanic and African-American students helped to drive the overall results. Florida's Hispanic students now have the second-highest reading scores in the nation; and African-Americans score fourth highest when compared to their peers. Both groups have a great deal of momentum on their side.

The average Florida Hispanic student score on NAEP reading tests (conducted in English mind you) is now higher than or ties the overall average scores of all students in 31 different states — including predominantly Anglo states such as Iowa, Minnesota and Washington. Florida's African Americans outscored or tied eight statewide averages for all students.

Defensores de Democracia 11:08 AM  

CONTINUED

Florida's reforms have been so successful that the Miami-Dade County Public School District, 91 percent of whose students are either Hispanic or African American, outscores the statewide reading average for Oregon — a highly Anglo and relatively wealthy state. What worked in Miami can work in Albuquerque.

Demography need not become destiny in New Mexico or anywhere else. Education improvement is not about the kids. The kids, even the poor and minority kids can learn. The roadblocks to improvement are with us adults, not with the kids. If New Mexicans decide that they want something better for their children, they can achieve it. If they reject the fate of becoming an educational and economic backwater, others already have departed from this path.

Fortune favors the bold, and New Mexicans can secure a brighter future if their adults have the wisdom and courage to embrace it.

From Wikipedia about Jeb Bush and Education in Florida :

Bush's administration was marked by a focus on public education reform. His "A+ Plan" mandated standardized testing in Florida's public schools, eliminated social promotion and established a system of funding public schools based on a statewide grading system using the FCAT test. Bush has been a proponent of school vouchers and charter schools, especially in areas of the state with failing public schools, although to date very few schools have received failing grades from the state. One program that has seen fruition is the Florida Virtual School, a distance-learning program that allows students in rural areas of the state to take Advanced Placement classes for college credit.


Youth, Minorities, Demography and Politics :

Milenials.com

Vicente Duque

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